


they love you

by tatertwitch



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Angst, Drinking, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Inquisitor & Dorian Pavus Friendship, Post-Break Up, cole is trying his best, i don't know how to write cole dialogue but i tried, no actual solas here sorry folks, post-Crestwood, post-Inquisition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:48:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27059773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tatertwitch/pseuds/tatertwitch
Summary: lavellan's victory over corypheus feels hollow with solas gone. her best friend is there to remind her she's not alone.
Relationships: Fen'Harel | Solas/Female Lavellan
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	they love you

It's an unusually warm night for this high up in the mountains. There's a strange balminess in the air, and the wind hums along with the sound of revelers in the castle courtyard. Friends and lovers dance arm-in-arm, coats discarded and shoulders bared despite the season. Inside, the Great Hall is alight with wine-drunk smiles and off-tune singing and booming laughter. Skyhold was chanting a song of victory.

Liara _should_ be riding the wave of joy flowing through the castle. Instead, a weight lies in her chest the whole evening as she plasters her best smile on her face and shakes hands with visiting dignitaries. The knot in her throat won't let up, a ball of grief she has to push down - _it's their night, Liara, don't spoil it for them_ \- and all she wants is for this to be done, for her presence to no longer be required, to sneak up the stairs to her bed where the sheets still smell like _him_ and she can still hear _vhenan, my heart_ alongside the crackling of the fire. She takes every tankard of ale she's offered. She tells Josephine the tiny cakes are delightful, but they all taste like ash on her tongue.

It's an eternity before she allows herself to trudge up the stairs to her quarters, feet almost as heavy as her heart; finally allowing her vision to blur. She gets to the top of the staircase before she heaves out a sob.

_He should be here._

Instead she's met with a cold, dark silence; the fire in her hearth having burned out earlier that evening.

_He never even said goodbye._

She shucks off her boots, tossing them into a corner with her gloves and formal jacket. She collapses on the floor in front of the fireplace, bringing her knees up to her chest and hugging them.

_What did I do wrong?_

"It wasn't like that."

A soft voice startles her, head whipping around to fix her eyes on a giant hat atop a scraggly blonde head.

"Cole," she sighs. He's sitting cross-legged on her bed, head bowed, hands fiddling with his threadbare gloves. She should've expected he would turn up, and normally she would be grateful for his company - but not tonight.

" _Hands calloused, caressing, pulling me towards lips that taste like honeysuckle, the way she says my name when I touch her - too much, it's too much, I can't let her follow, I can't -_ " Cole shakes his head, looking up to meet Liara's eyes. "You did nothing wrong."

She gulps, an ugly, sticky sound. She can taste her own tears on her tongue, feel them trickling down her face and underneath the collar of her shirt.

"I'm so sorry," Cole says. "I can't remember why he left. I don't know what to say."

"It's okay, Cole. Thank you for trying."

Liara jumps as the stairwell door slams open and she hears muffled curses and the clinking of bottles. Despite herself she quirks a smile as Dorian appears at the top of the stairs; hair ruffled, cheeks pink and arms full of bottles.

"Did you raid my cellar?" she asks.

Dorian smirks as he settles the bottles down on the table beside the sofa.

"I would say that tonight warrants raiding the cellar, wouldn't you? You saved the world!"

Liara snorts. "I suppose I did."

"And yet," Dorian says as he uncorks a bottle. "You're crying alone in your bedroom on the eve of victory. It's a travesty, and I will not stand for it." He offers her the wine and she accepts it with a shaky hand.

"Now, Cole," Dorian starts, looking over to the boy on the bed. "I'm sure there are plenty more people who need you tonight. I can take this one from here."

Cole nods, and within a blink he's gone. Satisfied, Dorian uncorks a bottle for himself, pulls the blanket off the bed, and moves to sit beside Liara on the floor. He wraps the blanket around both their shoulders and takes a drink.

"Won't Bull be missing you?" Liara croaks. Dorian sighs and puts his arm around her, guiding her to rest her head on his shoulder.

"He'll cope. I'm needed up here."

Liara chokes as the wine burns its way down her throat. It hurts, and she's not even sure if it's a good kind of hurt, but it drowns out the deep, groaning _longing_ that's been eating at her heart since Crestwood.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Dorian asks.

"What's there to talk about? I've never loved anyone more than Solas, and he left me. I don't know why. Nobody does. I feel like I'm drowning."

"I'm here. I've got you."

"I know."

They watch the fire, the buckles of Dorian's coat pressing into Liara's ear as the booze settles into a warm pit in her stomach. She realises she'll have to learn how to sleep in a bed alone, without Solas' hands in her hair and lips on her brow; she'll have to let go of the habit of scanning the battlefield for him; she'll need to accept that he may never come back, and she may never know why.

But for now, she sits by the fire with Dorian's arm around her shoulder, and she reminds herself that she's not completely alone.


End file.
